But photography isn't only photos. Like good writing, photography is experience, and I had an experience in the District at 0200 one night that's worth mentioning. There's a funny account of it over on the DarkTopo blog.
I had just finished up, and was parked in front of the recycling center on River Road, when an Asheville PD officer pulled in behind my car. This is not a new experience; cops are pretty curious about folks standing in the middle of the road with camera gear at two in the morning. Usually, they just slow down and ask what I'm doing.
Not this time. Blue lights, and then the spotlight came on and pinned me like a bug. I put my camera down and my hands up. A female officer got out of the car and said "That's alright," which I took to mean I didn't need to stand there like a crook in an Andy Griffith episode.
But then I told her I had a concealed weapon permit, and that I was carrying. She was very professional, and very polite, but immediately asked me to place my hands on the hood of her patrol car and keep my feet apart.
You know what comes next. It was the first time I've ever been disarmed, and the first time anyone has ever touched my weapon without my permission. She drew my gun from its holster, and I can only hope and pray that she exercised strict trigger discipline. I have no reason to suspect that she didn't--she was very professional.
Still, it was a new sensation. Not one I want to repeat.
She checked my permit and my ID. By this time, two other patrol cars had arrived. When my credentials checked out, she came back and placed my Glock on the hood of her car with the mag dropped and the extra round loose. She complimented me on the gun--I think the APD carries sigs??--and sent me on my way.
It never occurred to me to view the encounter from a gun rights perspective. It's an encounter particular to modern America--it would not have happened that way in Jefferson's day, or Teddy Roosevelt's day, or even in FDR's day. But this is a new day, and as much as I fear the erosion of our rights, I'm comforted that that officer is patrolling the River District.
In any event, it's a good excuse to post this photo, sent to me by a friend on the other coast:
Photo by Shaun Vann, posted with permission.
1 comment:
Perhaps it comforts you that the police were patrolling, but did you ever consider that they might not have had to patrol to the extent they do had our original rights never been tampered with or watered down? Just my thought.
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